Numerical study of fully developed flow and heat transfer in a wavy passage

A two-dimensional numerical study of fully developed fluid flow and heat transfer through a horizontal wavy surface is presented. Time dependent Navier-Stokes and energy equation have been solved using finite volume method. Numerical calculations are performed for a wavy surface described by sine function y = 2a x sin(2) (pi x/L) with ratios H-min/H-max and L/a fixed to 0.4 and 8 respectively. Attempts have been made to foresee the effect of streamwise domain length, an integer multiple of periodic domain length, on the flow and heat transfer characteristics. It is established that the flow and heat transfer characteristics do not show any dependence on the length of the periodic domain thereby confirming that geometric and flow periodicity are identical. The effect of Reynolds numbers, for Re in the range 25 -1000, on the flow field and heat transfer has been presented. For steady flow the heat transfer rates are found to be very low and for unsteady flow with increased mixing between core and near wall fluids enhanced heat transfer rates are obtained. (C) 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.